Laura Osnes: A star is born, even before the show goes on

NEW YORK - The restaurant was only four blocks away -- a quick walk in Manhattan -- but Laura Osnes couldn't risk having her dinner plans ambushed by fans. So she decided to use a car service.

"I wasn't expecting this much craziness," she said of the crowds that swarmed her after her first two Broadway bows in "Grease."It was a little more controlled today than last night, but did you see that? They're treating Max [Crumm, her co-star] like he was one of the Beatles."

A year ago, Osnes was starring in an Eagan summer theater production of "Peter Pan," on the same stage she knew in high school. Now she was being mobbed by well-wishers after the first previews of the $10 million revival of "Grease" on Broadway.

This is the kind of story generally reserved for, well, Broadway, where the chorus girl from the provinces hops off the bus to star on the Great White Way. It just doesn't happen in real life.

The scrutiny has been -- and will be -- intense. Interviews with national and regional news organizations are almost constant and when the show officially opens one week from tonight, the critics will praise or pan Osnes.

Everyone is curious whether she and Crumm, who won their roles through reality TV, have the chops to make it here. While some observers scoff at NBC's "You're The One That I Want," Osnes finds herself defending a talent that theatergoers in Minnesota long have been aware of.

Still, as she gazes out the ceiling-to-floor windows of her midtown apartment, with hubby Nate Johnson at her side and the Empire State Building in the skyline, Osnes realizes she's not in Minnesota anymore.

"I look back and I think, 'Who am I?' Like, 'What am I doing here?' " she said during an interview in her dressing room at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. "I'm just this little girl from Minnesota who America fell in love with. But it's like, I'm still me. I'm still Laura Osnes -- Laura Osnes-slash-Johnson. It was such a huge step from Minnesota to all of a sudden a Broadway star."

Osnes has few doubts about her stage abilities. She has played leads in "The Wizard of Oz" at Children's Theatre Company and she was Sandy at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre when this magical trip started last fall. But in an age in which artistic achievement conflates with celebrity, Osnes faces a unique challenge.

"I'll tell you why I think it's so unusual in this situation," said producer David Ian, who helped to select Osnes on TV and is overseeing the "Grease" revival. "I can't think of any other theater situation and very rarely a movie situation where someone becomes famous for playing a role before they've played it. That's where the real pressure is."

Staying focused

Tucked into a booth at a Manhattan restaurant, Osnes cozied up to Johnson and talked about the tumult of the past six months. After winning the TV show, they were married May 11 in Edina. Then they packed a U-Haul and headed for New York.

"Celebrity changes you," Johnson said. "If you are not intentional about being aware of that, it's going to be hard to stay humble."

Osnes nodded, talking about the values with which she was raised, her Christian faith and a sense that she is only trying to be obedient as fate or God has opened doors and steered her down this narrow path.

"This is where we're supposed to be," she said. "We're up for the adventure."

The stakes are high for Osnes and this revival of "Grease" -- its third Broadway production. The 1972 premiere helped forge the "Back to the '50s" craze and ran for eight years. In 1994, it did about half that business.

This time, Ian borrowed a gimmick that had worked in London: Let the people decide who plays the lead roles. "You're the One That I Want" started hot on NBC but fizzled to about 6 million viewers by the time Osnes and Crumm were crowned in March. Still, it helped generate more than $14 million in advance ticket sales (rare in a show without a name star), giving Ian a leg up on recouping what's expected to be a $30 million production budget.

Osnes has a one-year contract with "Grease," after which NBC still "owns" her for another year ("I don't consider that a burden at all"). Film, TV, more Broadway are all options. Osnes believes they will be in New York for a while.

Living the dream

She seems almost impervious to the hype -- though she admitted to a "baby cryfest" when she finally got home after the hoopla following the first preview.

"The thing about Laura is, she told me when she got out here that Nate and her getting married was the really cool thing that happened this year," said actor Ruthie Baker, who moved from Minneapolis to New York in search of her own dream a year ago.

Baker is a regular guest at chez Johnson, 31 floors above Times Square, as is Crumm, who lives downstairs in the same building. Letting her Midwestern sensibilities show, Osnes said she can't believe the price of groceries ("Seventy dollars for two bags!").

There are no stars in the night sky over the city, but the street teems with them. They've met the kids from the Tony-winning "Spring Awakening," one of the stars of "Wicked" and even her idol, Sutton Foster, the Broadway actor and singer.

"You're performing within four or five blocks of arguably the best performances in the world," Ian said by phone from London. "Across the street is 'Les Misérables,' up the road is 'Phantom of the Opera,' and 'Hairspray.' With all due respect to regional theaters, this is a very different pressure."

Not to mention a skeptical press, which has targeted Osnes and Crumm for their TV celebrityhood. An article in New York magazine suggested that some Broadway watchers would be happy to see the young stars flop. That irked Osnes for a moment.

There is also scuttlebutt that some other cast members grumbled about how Osnes and Crumm ascended the ladder. Her mates vigorously deny those charges.

"In addition to being talented, she's a very warm and genuine person," said "Grease" cast member Matthew Saldivar.

Of the critics who are gunning for the show because of the reality-TV gimmick, Saldivar argued, "There's a lot of esprit de corps in this cast, and I hope some New York media outlet will pick up on that. At the end of the day, we are all of the same ilk. We're theater people."

For Osnes, the greater question is whether she has topped out at age 21, starring on Broadway.

"Exactly!" she offers enthusiastically. "Like Max and I are sitting in rehearsal and we're looking out the window and we're looking out over 42nd Street and there are all these skyscrapers and we look at each other and it's like, 'We're on Broadway; can it get better than this?'

"It's weird to think there's going to be more and, yeah, probably greater things. But right now, this seems like the peak."

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299 • groyce@startribune.com